Thursday, December 31, 2009

That would be my last post this year, and I want to say thanks to all of you who are reading my blog. I haven't expected there would be so many readers - now my blog gets about 450 his and 200 unique visitors every day. Most of these visitors come from the United States, but there are also many people from Russia/Ukraine, Italy, and Greece. France and Germany are also present, as well as Spanish-speaking world (especially Chile). But I expected some more visitors from Scandinavia (due to powerful crust scene in Nordic countries), China and India (due to great population of both these countries). The majority of Asian visitors of my blog come from Japan, and there aren't any visitors from Africa (except for Egypt).

It's also good to see that many people come to my blog by typing in Google: "RABM" or "anarchist black metal" - it indicates that they're aware of the growing RABM movement. But it's surprising to see people from Japan or Israel searching for NSBM blogs, or search queries like "christian nsbm" (though I wouldn't be surprised if there are any ;))

It's most likely there wouldn't be any updates in the next 10 days - I want to have some rest, and I have some things to do beside this blog. See you next year, stay tuned!

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Epithanatios Ronghos are a very obscure crust band from Greece, who did a split with another band called Poria Sto Perithorio in 2005. Unfortunately I don't have the other side of the split, and I couldn't find any further info about Epithanatios Ronghos, but at least these 5 tracks are fine.

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Well... now I'll post some Greek blackened crust, just like I promised. We all know how powerful Greek anarchist movement is nowadays, and it's naturally to expect many good bands to come from Greece. This release is very good for a first demo, there are 37 minutes of atmospheric metallic crust. Hope the next release would be even better!

Recorded in the thirty hours within two days at the Living Head Studios in Phoenix, AZ. Second album.

And finally, one of the first examples of pure anarchist black metal I've heard about only very recently. If I'm not misinformed, Suicide Nation were considered anarchist at the time, and their music was one of the main sources of inspiration for A.Lundr (Panopticon). I don't have any further info about Suicide Nation, but music is good. Even very good.

That's enough for today, I think. Though I don't have any more "pure" RABM right now, I have LOTS of blackened hardcore and Greek blackened crust, and I'm going to upload all that stuff after the new year. Stay tuned!

P.S. A comment from the band:

"Suicide Nation was never an anarchist band, nor a black metal band. We
were definitely strongly influenced by and huge fans of early black
metal and thrash. Our songs were﻿ about war with christianity, as well
as self loathing and trying to escape those mindsets/ Our personal
politics were leftist in nature to varying degrees, focused on DIY
culture. Our first bassist was personally involved with the anarchist
ideology... to classify, we were a metal influenced hardcore band"

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As far as I know, Chambre Froide (Cold Room) is an anarchist black metal project by the same people who're responsible for Gasmask Terror (d-beat/crust) and Ravensdöm (ABM). Chambre Froide are from Bordeaux (France), and only a very little info is available about them, but their music is surprisingly good. There are at least one more release by them (a split tape with a band called Corbillard), but I haven't found it yet. On the other side, The Austrasian Goat - a rather strange one-man band which sound is in the intersection between black metal, post-rock and funeral doom.

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You all might know A.Lundr, the only member of Panopticon. Plainwords is one of his side projects, and for now he's a drummer. This 3-track demo features very good blackened crust/hardcore sound with the same distinctive style of drumming you can hear on Panopticon's albums. Don't know if they plan to release a full-length album, but at least recently they have recorded a new song called "Opacity".

If you like Panopticon (and I think most of you do), feel free to check out this demo. Very decent stuff indeed.

DOWNLOAD"We released a 7" called "Fury" in '93 on S.O.A. recs., wich is probably one of the worst records of all ages..." - from an interview with Timebomb. To be honest, it's not "one of the worst records of all ages", but it's definitely only for die-hard fans of Timebomb. Overall it's a hardcore (not metalcore/BM) album like "Hymns for a Decaying Empire" - though the quality of production is slightly worse.

Just FYI: I have one more album by them ("The Beat Is Here Fellas" - but it sounds nothing like any hardcore or metal), and their split with Redemption, containing 3 tracks previously featured on "Hymns for a Decaying Empire". Great thanks to my Greek comrade for sending me all these very, VERY hard-to-find releases!

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Well, I haven't forgot about my secondary mission - to bring the best releases of an ex-USSR crust scene to your attention. Just like Antimelodix and 4 Scums, Warborn are from north-west of Russia (St.Petersburg, to be precise). So, the vast majority of the best Russian crust bands come from North-West region, and I guess it's because of proximity to Finland and Scandinavia (and to Murmansk too - there are many good black metal bands that come from Murmansk, including All The Cold).

The music of Warborn is generally considered to be dark hardcore, but it contains some elements of neocrust and blackened crust as well. And they're far more good than the majority of other crust bands from Russia (E123, Trotyl Equivalent Dissonance, Step To Freedom, I Have A Gun, etc.)

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Recently, I was contacted by Eric (Contravene, A Cloud Forest), who asked me to download the first release by A Cloud Forest and to review it in my blog. Well, here it is. The sound is surprisingly melodic, and comparable with Alda or Lake Of Blood. Of course I can't compare it with WITTR or Panopticon, but it's good enough for a first release - though all 3 tracks are a bit short (I used to >6-7 minutes-long tracks in atmospheric black metal). Hope for a full-length release by them in the future, it's good to see more and more members of anarcho-punk community going black metal.
See you next week, stay tuned!

DOWNLOADCharles D. Ward, did you want some blackened ska? Here it is! "Beyond Good & P.C." by Dancehall Satan is one of the most epic... no, EPIC releases I've ever heard. It's exactly like how I've described it - a hybrid of black metal and ska / crack rock steady, using the BM aesthetics and anarchist ideology. Are you crazy enough to appreciate this? Then feel free to check out "Beyond Good & P.C.", but you have been warned ;)

Release notes:

"BACK TO THE RADICAL!!!we hate: capitalism, racism, patriotism, globalization, homophobia, sexism, religion, people defining themselves as "unpolitical" (in a world with millions of influences and impacts, EVERYBODY has to take a stand)we are pro: communism, anarchism, choice, animalif you got a problem with that: stop listening to us and kill yourself!NAZI PUNKS FUCK OFF!!!"

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You might already know Peregrine, a very radical anarcho-primitivist blackened death metal band from the United States. Here's their latest release, a split album with a hardcore/metalcore band called Auryn. I must admit it's an excellent release. The quality of production is great, much better when compared to "The Agrarian Curse". And it's much more black metal release than the previous album (which was more like death metal/grindcore). Enjoy!

Alda are a new 4-piece Cascadian black metal band. I found their demo (which was available for free as a CD-R at their live shows, btw) in the same blog where I've found albums by Mania. If you like WITTR or Skagos, you'll definitely like Alda. Their sound isn't very brutal, but rather melodic, and despite they aren't comparable with the best Cascadian metal bands, they're a very promising band. Can't wait to hear their first LP (which was released only a month ago).

I haven't found any explicit political statements by them. But according to this text, they're undoubtedly environmentalists, so I think it's safe to post their demo under the "green anarchist black metal" label. Overall it seems like their beliefs very much resemble the beliefs of aforementioned bands (WITTR, Skagos, etc.)

It's a cassette-only release limited to 100 white tapes, and I think it's the best release by Mania so far. Besides these 3 albums, Mania has two splits (which I don't have now), and a "best of" compilation. Maybe later I'd post some Leech, but I haven't heard any albums by them yet.

"The endless struggle to survive is what Mania is about. Primitivism is the key. No amount of leftist 'anarchist' and 'vegan' ideas will change this world; only personal fulfillment to better you and your immediate community can change your life. A never-ending, all encompassing, urban sprawl of technological infrastructure will engulf all life and there is no fighting it.. only embracing it and using it to further your immediate needs until it collapses. Don't miss the point here. Nature is important, however Cascadia is just like the rest of the world. A symbolic longing for a life of nature is all we have here."

Yes, these guys are very radical. I can't say I support their beliefs to a full extent, but their music is damn good. The first LP by them features more clear sound than "Current Chaos", and it's more depressive and doom metal-influenced, when compared to most of other Cascadian black metal (only in my opinion, of course).

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Mania is a vegan, primitivist, misanthropic and anti-christian black metal band formed in 2004 by members of various Cascadian black metal bands (including Leech). Now Mania is an one-man project of Nate Myers (also a member of Flesh Amulet, Leech, River, and Vault Dweller).
Honestly I haven't heard anything about Mania before someone left this link in my blog. However I enjoyed "Current Chaos", it's very good for a first demo. The quality of sound may not be perfect, but it creates a very gloomy and dark atmosphere. Check this out!

Since many of you liked "Ego & Desire" by Shikabane, I've decided to post one more album by them. It looks like their last release, at least I don't know anything about their albums after 2004. I also have their 1st EP and their split w/ Agathocles, but I'm not sure if I should post it here.

This release is very diverse in terms of sound, drifting from acoustic parts (which I didn't like very much, though) to blackened crust and even grindcore. The mood of the album is very dark and gloomy, the guitars' sound is noisy and fuzzy, and the vocals are typical for a Japanese crust band. There are English translations of the lyrics in the booklet... but I need to say that they're not very intelligible. Even my English is better ;)

Anyway, I like Shikabane. They're probably my favourite crust punk band from Japan, and I'd be happy to have any other albums by them (if there are any besides these 4 releases I already have).

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I feel it's my duty to post this release, since most of you who live outside ex-USSR may just never know about it. It's certainly one of the most acclaimed releases of Russian crust punk scene in 2009, though it was released only a few weeks ago. Many people label it as hardcore/punk-82, but for me it's typical modern crust/d-beat. It's not as "blackened" as "Hellfuck" by Antimelodix, but it's still very metallic. The only thing I have to complain about this album is that the tracks are all very monotonous. Anyway it's a very good release even by European standarts, and I hope for much more good bands to come from that region (4Scums and Warborn are from St.Petersburg, and Antimelodix - from Petrozavodsk, not very far from SPb) in the future.

DOWNLOAD (upd.: there's a much better full-length album from them)
Just another metallic crust band, formed during the fall of 2004 in Italy (Alessandria). So far they have recorded two demos, titled "Where Morality Fails" & "Age Of Darkness", and I've uploaded both of them. Now they're searching for labels interested to release their CD or LP (7 new songs + 3 re-mastered songs from the demo).

"Influences: Bikes and Beers, our other bands, swedish old and new crust, death'n'roll, black metal, the Apocalypse, Nuclear holocaust, the Vikings, bikes and Fausto Coppi" - from their myspace.
Despite that, I don't hear much black metal influence in their music, it's more like death metal/neocrust to me (and the band members actually look like skinheads, lol). But it doesn't make their music less awesome.
P.S. The band name is a reference to Bhopal, a city in India which is infamous for the worst industrial disaster in human history (click here for a very detailed info on that event).

Disprezzo (Disdain) - a political crust band from Italy, which was formed in 2001 and disbanded in late 2004. Their sound was described as "blackened crust" in most sources. Though I really doubt if there are a sufficient black metal influence, it's very metallic crust indeed. Very little info is available about the band, and it's a shame that they're too little known - their music is very good.

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Here's the very first rehearsal demo by Nuclear Frost. My review will be as short as the demo itself: if course it's very raw and noisy, but it's only their first attempts to create music. Let's wait for their full-length "Nuclear Winter Gloom"!

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It's the first demo by Profecium, and unlike "Socialismo Satanico", it's about the typical "true" black metal subjects (satanism, occultism, etc.) rather than politics. However, I'll tag it as "communist black metal" too. The overall quality of recording and musicianship isn't much better than those of Curt & The Contras ;), so be prepared for a very raw sound. Though this demo does feature some interesting acoustic and folk/tribal parts, in general I'd recommend to check out "Socialismo Satanico" first.

Finally, here comes one of the most obscure and rare releases that I have right now. I always thought Agony from Canada (sorry, I was mistaken - they're from USA) and Mrakobesie from Russia were the first communist black metal bands ever. And now it turns out that there was a communist BM band in Argentina in the mid-90s! Charles D. Ward, you can be happy now -here's exactly such revolutionary socialist black metal you have dreamed of.

The sound is unsurprisingly raw, yet very melodic. I couldn't find much info about the band, except they were from Buenos Aires, and have recorded only one LP and one demo. Some of the band members were participated in the very first Argentinian black metal band Sartan, and in the bands called Bolchevikes and Terrorist. I know nothing about these bands, but they probably were political (left-wing) too.

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Shikabane, or 屍 (which translates to English as "Undead", I believe), are one of the best Japanese crust punk acts, and here's my favourite album by them: "Ego & Desire". It isn't really blackened crust, though I can catch the strong black metal overtones especially on the first track, "Hatred". It was also said that they sounds simular to Radioskugga - and they definitely are (to some extent). I'm still waiting for the really blackened crust from Japan, though. Japan has a very strong crust/hardcore scene, and Japanese anarchist black metal is expected to appear in the near future.

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It's the second and the last release by Curt & The Contras, and it's just as raw and angry as "Hebephrenia" was. The lyrics are still hateful, misanthropic, and not without the glimpse of black humour. And they clearly show all the Andrey Vasin's disgust to all kinds of music that existed in Russia at that time. Sadly the 1992 album was never completed, the three tracks from it are included to this release. Listen to it, and feel the atmosphere of disorder and social chaos of early 90s in Soviet Union!

Only a very little is known about the further life of A.Vasin. It's known, however, that he still lives in Omsk, and he's a collector of weapons.

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Well, I'm continuing to expand the topic of my blog, and I think I must bring this release to your attention. It's not black metal or blackened crust, but the sound and lyrics are so nihilistic and misanthrophic that they leave behind most of the "true" black metal bands. Plus it's the very first hardcore punk album from an ex-USSR band. Yes, it's REAL Siberian hardcore, and you can compare it to Bastards' "Siberian Hardcore" album ;)

Curt & The Contras, then an one-man project led by Andrey "Curt" Vasin, recorded the first tape demo in 1989 in Omsk (Siberia). At that time, there already were many raw punk bands in Siberia, but no hardcore/thrash metal bands. As for A.Vasin, he liked thrash metal (Slayer, etc.), punk and hardcore, but disliked most of the Russian punk - so the decided to start the first hardcore/thrash project in USSR. Of course, the quality of sound is awful (especially on the 89' rehearsal tracks), but I think it's even for good - I liked such kind of angry and raw sound, which was labelled by someone as "evil punk". The lyrics are definitely worth attention - they're extremely cynical, misanthropic, anti-patriotic and obscene. And the album cover is vey suitable to such kind of music - it depicts Egor Letov sitting in the trash can, and Andrey "Svin" Panov shitting on the head of Felix Dzerzhinsky.

I've noticed this band, because they did a split with Nuclear Frost (see my previous post), and the whole conception of their music looked interesting to me. Unlike Nuclear Frost, they don't have an apparent political stance, but they have an apparent sci-fi/post-apocalyptic image. High tech vs. low life, dictatorship, biker gangs... we've already seen all that in movies like Akira or Mad Max. Another pecularity of the band is that they have a female drummer. As for their music, it sounds like return into the 80's era of metal. Even though they're influenced by proto-black metal (Bathory, Venom, Celtic Frost) and crust punk (Discharge, Black Uniforms), they sound very much like Motorhead! Nevertheless, I hope you'll all enjoy that release.

Nuclear Frost, a political d-beat black/thrash metal band, was formed in São Paulo (Brazil) in 2007, and it's the first latinoamerican crust/d-beat band I've ever heard. The correct spelling of the band name is "Nuclëar Fröst" (they think that heavy metal ümlauts still look cool), but these umlauts doesn't affect the pronunciation, and a simple "Nuclear Frost" is ok too: "The name is Nuclear Frost, it is a consequence of an atomic war that comes with radiation appearing from a dark sky, bringing the Nuclear Frost" - from their myspace.

Speaking of their music, it's of course very raw (no wonder, it's just a demo), and creating a very gloomy apocalyptic atmosphere. Now I'm waiting for their upcoming full-length album "Nuclear Winter Gloom", hope it'd be more brutal and better produced. By the way, they're obviously fans of 80's thrash and early black metal... and Swedish crust, of course!

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Well... why not to start expanding the scope of my blog? I've already posted a lot of anarchist death metal, thrash metal and dark ambient albums, so there would be not only anarchist black metal and blackened crust. This demo by a German band Altare, brought to me by 7inchcrust, is a very decent melodic black metal release with strong blackened crust overtones. The songs are very catchy, and the band seems to be very promising to me. However I'm not sure if they have any political subjects in their lyrical themes. (UPD: Adam claims to know their drummer; according to his words, their drummer is from Rome and he's a very nice guy).

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Most of you might already know Peregrine, a very convinced anarcho-primitivist black/death metal band from United States. As for me, their music is rather death metal with little black metal and blackened crust overtones, but they're considering themselves as a "black and green metal" band. Though they have very radical views on environmentalism and anarcho-primitivism (too radical even for me), their album is definitely worth checking out.

This short demo is the latest release by Hotbild. The band seems to be defunct now, and they haven't released any full-length albums. They also have two more demos called "Brutal Jävla Replokalsinspelning" and "Liv(e) i Plågor" (released in 2002 and 2003 respectively), but I haven't found them yet.

P.S. According to Metal-Archives, "I Blint Raseri" was re-released in december 2007 on CD-R by Halvkass Produktion with a new cover and 3 bonus tracks from the "I skuggan av livet"-recording session. Sadly I don't have that re-release...

DOWNLOAD Just another demo by Hotbild, released in 2003. Though it doesn't sounds as good as "Vemod" or "I skuggan av livet", and the black metal influence is less recognizable, the lyrics on this demo are much more into political subjects.

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Do you like Swedish blackened crust as much as I do? Probably yes, then don't hesistate to download this demo! Though the first 5 tracks feature still much more crust than black metal, the vocals are sung in black metal style. My favourite track is "Vemod", as it provides one of the first attempts to combine crust punk and depressive black metal. A very good attempt, I must say.

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Madame Germen were a political neocrust band from A Coruña, Spain. They're disbanded now, some of their ex-members are playing in various projects like Ictus, Ekkaia, Leadershit, Cop On Fire, Mass Mierda, etc. I couldn't find much info about them, I only know that they released 3 albums during 2002-2005, and "Invocation A Morte" is their last release. I think it's highly influenced by black metal - much more than Dishammer's "Vintage Addiction", for example. Madame Germen's sound is gloomy, powerful, and just plain awesome.

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It's a rare live recording from a Serbian blackened crust trio Dažd, uploaded by bubble. Some of the tracks from it also appeared on the compilation previously posted by me. Just sick stuff, especially the vocals (though there's much more of sludge/doom influence than of black metal).

Finally, at least one side of this split is available! Thanks to Krumbled Kookie, who uploaded the track by Skagos on mediafire, and posted the link to my blog. All the 4 tracks by Wake still aren't available though.

As far as I know, Wake was a short-lived 4-piece Cascadian black metal band from the United States, who have recorded one demo and then split up. I haven't heard any their music yet, but I guess they sounded much like Skagos. I don't know if they had any political views, but they were definitely pro-environmentalist.

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Not long ago, someone recommended me that Red&Anarchist Skinheads blog, and this alubum was found there. Lluvia Acida (Acid Rain) is a Chilean band playing very eclectic and experimental music, which can't be labeled simply as "black metal" or anything like that. Though the black metal influence is definitely present on this album, I think it's more close to melodic death/techno-thrash metal. Of course it's just a demo, but the sound is surprisingly good. I don't understand their lyrics, but I guess they're of a political (left-wing) kind. It's the first left-wing metal band from Chile I've ever heard, and this demo is really worth listening to.

DOWNLOAD7inchcrustpointed me to this band, which is said to be formed in mid-2006 by some members of Los Angeles crust punk scene. It's good enough for a first full-length demo, and I haven't expected such depressive and "wintry" atmosphere from a Californian band.

Their sound seems to be highly influenced by the old school crust/stenchcore like Amebix, Hellbastard, Axegrinder, etc. However, they can't be compared with such american RABM acts as Panopticon or WITTR. But it's only their first demo, and I hope their sound will improve in the future. If you find Winteraxe boring, but love that kind of music in general - try Filth of Mankind instead, you wouldn't be disappointed. As for me, I liked the ambient-ish tracks (#1, #4, #7), the rest of the demo also has enough of good melodies and riffs.

By the way, I'm really curious about the lyrics of #8 track. It seems to be about Black Sun, a prominent symbol in Armanenschaft, which is frequently used in Nazi mysticism (and by NSBM bands in particular). It's very interesting, what views the "no gods no masters"-band like Winteraxe has on that symbol.

Well, it's enough for today. And as you could notice, my English really sucks, especially @ the middle of the night - it's already 4:00 a.m. here, so I need to go to sleep... Stay tuned!

XDeclarationX were a six-piece anarchist straight edge metalcore band from southern Ukraine, formed in november 2007 and disbanded in march 2009. They're surprisingly well known in Russian/Ukrainian sXe hardcore scene. Their music is very well produced for an ex-USSR underground band, and the black metal influence on their sound is very noticeable. Most of the vocal parts are sung in a black metal way, and some of the blastbeat parts strongly remind me of Iskra. Of course it's not Timebomb, but it's good anyway ;)

The weaker part of these demos is the lyrical content. The lyrics of XDeclarationX strongly remind me those of Earth Crisis, and they're all written in Russian language. I'm pro-environmentalist, and I think I can define myself as a straight edger (though I don't need to), but some of their lyrics are too hardline even for me. (Same shit with the lyrics of another Ukrainian act, Life Is Hell). It should be mentioned that only two of XDeclarationX members were hardline, and overall they weren't a hardline/pro-life band. They also seem to be inspired by the writings of Jack London ("The Iron Heel", in particular), John Zerzan, and Noam Chomsky.

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A 5-song demo from one of the best Swedish blackened crust bands in the mid-2000s (along with Martyrdöd and Radioskugga). I like it much better than, for example, Order of the Vulture's debut album. They have at least five other demos, but I have only one of them, called "Vemod".

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It's the lastest release by Order of the Vulture. They're still playing crust punk with black metal aesthetics, and they're doing it good enough. At least I liked this album more than the first LP, but my favourite song by them is "Squalor" anyway.

ORDER OF THE VULTURE "Order Of The Vulture"Year: 2006Genre: Blackened CrustCountry: USALabel: Aborted Society Records

Track List:

Cryptesthesia

Abhorrence

Chaotic Evil

Murder System

Harvest of Darkness

Dead Eyes

Iconoclast

DOWNLOADLP released by Aborted Society Records. Gatefold Cover. Initial pressing of 1,000; the first 500 copies are on red and black splattered vinyl, 500 on black. Guest vocals on the LP by Jason Vorhees of Fall of the Bastards and Meriel.

As for me, I was slightly disappointed with this release. Despite being very atmospheric (due to extensive use of samples and acoustic parts), it's nowhere near being comparable with the best examples of Swedish blackened crust. But at least some lyrics are good.

It's the first EP from that Portland-based blackened crust act. I don't know much about their political views, but at least they've did a split with Dažd (who are 100% anarchist), and they're playing good anti-christian blackened crust. Two members of Order Of The Vulture also play in a Cascadian black metal band L'Acephale.

There are 5 tracks on this split, but in the mp3 rip they're combined into 2 tracks. Personally I like the Nakot's side of the split, they're playing awesome crust punk (though not much influenced by black metal). Sadly I have only a very little knowledge of Balkan punk scene, but it's said that many good bands come from ex-Yugoslavia (especially in the recent years).

"We were sick and tired living in country like this which pass trough few wars, economical crises, nato bombing, international isolation in recent history...and just seeing local punk bands singing about their crew, their neighborhood, or some stupid joke songs...Our lyrics are mostly dark and apocalyptic… But the reason is not because that’s how they should be in crust/punk genre, but because the reality of civilization, we belong by birth to, is exactly like that. Also, the war as a subject in some of our songs is not a punk fetishism, but because the wars have been reality in this region for the last 15 years, and many of us have lived in the realities described in the lyrics of many crust bands" - Nakot

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Finally, I obtained this release! It's definitely great, at least I like it more than "Ast" and "Himmelszelt". "Litha MMIX" consists of two tracks previously released on "Ast", and an interpretation of the song "Vastness and Sorrow" by Wolves in the Throne Room. That interpretation is intentionally raw and noisy, but still very melodic and atmospheric. A very good EP, can't wait for the "An-Archic" LP!

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About the blog

First of all: there's probably a lot of broken English on this blog. Hope it isn't that bad, at least I'm trying to do my best. Feel free to point me to any of my mistakes, if there are any. -B.K.

If you're playing in a band and want to see your music featured on our blog - just send a download link of your demo to us:

- oiseau [@] riseup [.] net - for basically anything RABM-related, but she is generally interested in atmospheric, depressive, and post-BM stuff, as well as the projects from Latin America (and Mexico in particular). You can also contact her via facebook.

- band name, release name/year, country of origin, album cover image (or at least band photo or logo);

- track listing (properly numbered);

- preferably a full release (not samples or streaming) in mp3/m4a/ogg (128kbps or higher bitrate). You may use any free filesharing site (preferably Mediafire) to host your files; or you can use Bandcamp (but then make sure your release is available for free download). *** NO LARGE ATTACHMENTS PLEASE!!! ***;

- any other info about you and your release (links to any sites related to your band, release notes, etc.);

- reason why you want your music to be featured on our blog (note that it's not just another metal blog, and even if your band is apolitical, it still should be somehow in the spirit of RABM movement).

Most of the uploads here are band sanctioned. Anyway, if you for some reason don't want to see your music here, contact us via email (rabmblog [@] gmail [.] com), and we'll consider taking it down.

If you wish to become a contributor for this blog, send a message to rabmblog [@] gmail [.] com. The obvious requirements are: being supportive of the RABM movement, good proficiency in English, and willingness to review lots of albums on a regular basis.

FAQ

Q.: Which kinds of music are featured on this blog?

A.: - (primarily) RABM or Red & Anarchist Black Metal: all kinds of black metal-related music charged with radical leftist (anarchist, libertarian socialist, eco-anarchist, etc.) political views. Some of the bands featured here may be not openly political, but all of them are RABM-friendly;

- blackened crust/hardcore/punk (only if it's openly RABM-friendly, or if it's just very good music; we have no intention to collect here all the blackened punk in existence);

A.: Most bands nowadays have a bandcamp page, where you can but their stuff online (usually for an arbitrary price). It's the most convinient way to support the band. If your favourite band don't have a bandcamp or bigcartel page, try to find out in which distro you can find their albums/merch. Of course, go to concerts if you have such opportunity.

Q.: How can I offer my financial support to this blog, or the RABM movement in general?

A.: Unfortunately right we don't have an opportunity to accept donations, but we hope we'll be able to set it up soon.

Q.: What is the connection between black metal and hardcore/punk/crust?

A.: It's a well-established fact that the connection between black metal and punk scenes existed since the early days of BM (think Venom, early Bathory, early Mayhem and early Sodom on one side, and Amebix, Discharge and Axegrinder on another). Recently this mix of BM and hardcore punk got a new life in the form of blackened crust (thanks to Black Kronstadt / Iskra in first place). And don't forget about Cascadian black metal bands with their radical environmentalist ideology, often to the extent of radical eco-anarchism or "pro-nature/anti-humanity" ideas.

Q.: What's your main ideology?

A.: This blog is generally written from a position of anarchism without adjectives; however, the RABM scene is very diverse ideologically. Let us end on this, as this blog isn't quite a right place for purely political debates; if you want to learn or argue about anarchism/other ideologies, there's a lot of specialized FAQs/blogs/forums for you.

Q.: Isn't black metal supposed to be apolitical?

A.: Supposed by whom? I personally don't think so, but if you think that political awareness should have no place in "true" black metal, you can feel free to call the bands featured on here "blackened punk" or whatever you want. It should be noted, though, that a lot of these bands doesn't openly talk about politics in their lyrics, exactly because they think it wouldn't be suitable for black metal. - B.K.

Q.: Isn't RABM just an "answer" to NSBM?

A.: While RABM is definitely against NSBM and any other kind of far-right crap in metal scene, it's most emphatically a self-sufficient movement and not any kind of "answer to NSBM". Similarly, while RABM is 100% pro liberation from any kinds of religious tyranny, it isn't a movement against any particular religion (Christianity, Islam, or any other).

Q.: What's your opinion on Satanism?

A.: The so-called "Hollywood Satanism", which is often found in black metal, is, in our opinion, nothing more than inverted Christianity, so we aren't big on it. Many of us are simply atheists, pagans of all kinds, gnostics, etc. We also don't share the notion that only genuine theistic Satanists / Devil-worshippers can play "real" black metal (this would exclude such bands as Venom, Bathory, Immortal, Summoning, and many many others). Additionally, the very term "Satanism" is quite vague, and can't be narrowed down to LaVeyan Satanism (which is heavily disliked by many black metallers), or whatever else. LaVey had some good points, but in general his philosophy can be described just as "Ayn Rand with some occult tinge".

Q.: What about misanthropy and nihilism?

A.: To put it in short: we don't hate everyone and everything (and we don't think there's anyone﻿ who truly does). We just hate these traits of humanity which make true anarchist society most likely infeasible in the foreseeable future.

Q.: Collectivism or individualism?

A.: There actually is no "hard" contradiction between these two terms. Individualism is simply an outlook emphasizes the moral worth of the individual and its right not to be oppressed by the state or some social group. It doesn't contradict at all with standing up for your rights along with a group of like-minded individuals. It also worth noting that the early black metal scene didn't promote individualism that much (see "black metal circles").

Q.: Who coined the term "RABM"?

A.: Hard to say, but there's an apparent similarity to RASH ("Red & Anarchist Skinheads"). Here's the very first mention of "RABM" we could find (August 2005). The term was popularized by our last.fm group (and later - by this blog) since 2009.

Q.: Do you know the ideology of the band X? It isn't obvious if they're NSBM or not...

A.: Sorry, we don't know, do your own research. It's often hard to say anything certain about a band's views, if the members themselves aren't open about it. We also don't advice using various "lists of nazi bands" etc. as a reference, as most of them are full of bullshit. Similarly, forum posts or blog comments (especially anonymous ones) generally aren't a reliable source for anything. In one particular case, we had an anonymous comment claiming that the members of Timebomb are now playing in a fascist band called SPQR. Later it turned out that it were members of a completely other Italian band with a similar name (Timebombs). Hopefully that'd be a good example of how important fact-checking is.

Q.: I've seen some of the albums posted here in the same distro with some albums by right-leaning bands...

A.: Unfortunately it's often the case with distros and labels that distribute stuff regardless of its political affiliation. Even Austin Lunn of Panopticon complained about Pagan Flames (the label which released his "Collapse" and "Social Disservices" LPs) having NSBM in their distro, so things like these are just unavoidable.

Q.: Some bands on this blog have Burzum on their list on influences. Isn't Varg Vikernes a nazi?